Gottfried August Homilius (2 February 1714 – 2 June 1785) was a German composer,

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and organist. He is considered one of the most important church composers of the generation following

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

's, and was the main representative of the '' empfindsamer'' style.

Life

Homilius was born in Rosenthal,

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, the son of a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor, and was educated at the in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. He then studied law at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

and the organ. It has often been repeated that he was a student of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

, but there is no written evidence to support this, and strong contextual evidence against it. From 1742 he was organist at the Dresden Frauenkirche, and from 1755 until his death Kreuzkantor, the

at the

Kreuzkirche The Dresden Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is a Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. It is the main church and seat of the ''Landesbischof'' of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, and the larges ...

in Dresden with the associated responsibility of music director at the

, the Sophienkirche, and the Frauenkirche and the Kreuzschule. After the destruction of the Kreuzkirche during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

he worked mainly at the Frauenkirche.

Works

Homilius predominantly composed

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

. He is known for his Passions for services on Good Friday. One of them, a cantata Passion, was printed during his lifetime in 1775. Of four

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

Passions after the

four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

, his St. Matthew Passion in the preclassical style of C. P. E. Bach and a worthy successor of J. S. Bach's best-known work of the same name, has been recorded on CD. Others were published later and recorded. He composed a

Christmas oratorio The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a churc ...

in 1777 and an Easter oratorio, over 60

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s, more than 150

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s (six

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

s from these appeared in 1786),

chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

s, preludes, and choral works. He composed also organ music: 36 Chorale preludes for organ. His students included eminent composer Daniel Gottlob Türk as well as

Johann Adam Hiller Johann Adam Hiller (25 December 1728 – 16 June 1804) was a German composer, conducting, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet ...

. His vocal compositions enjoyed great popularity through the 19th century, as witnessed by the large number of copies still extant. A complete worklist and edition is in preparation at Carus Verlag; the Homilius-Werkverzeichnis numbers (HoWV) follow the dissertation of Karl Feld and the new edition in progress of Uwe Wolf.

Passions and oratorios

Homilius composed at least five extended Passions for Good Friday, one cantata Passion and four oratorio Passions quoting the complete biblical texts of the four Evangelists. * HoWV 1.2 Passionskantate "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" / "Siehe das ist Gottes Lamm" / "Mit väterlicher Stimme" * HoWV 1.3 Matthäuspassion "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld" / "Und es begab sich" / "Erfüllt mit göttlich ernsten Freuden" * HoWV 1.4 Johannespassion "Der Fromme stirbt" * HoWV 1.5 Lukaspassion "Du starker Keltertreter" * HoWV 1.10 Markuspassion * Weihnachtsoratorium. "Die Freude der Hirten"

Organ music

* Gottfried August Homilius: Choralvorspiele für Orgel / herausgegeben von Christoph Albrecht., Leipzig : Breitkopf & Härtel, 1988.

References

*Hans John, "Homilius, Gottfried August," Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 December 2006
(subscription access)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Homilius, Gottfried August 1714 births 1785 deaths 18th-century German classical composers 18th-century German male musicians 18th-century German organists 18th-century German people German classical composers of church music German male classical composers German classical organists German Lutherans Organists and composers in the North German tradition People from the Electorate of Saxony People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach German male classical organists Cantors Leipzig University alumni